Seth Rau is a senior from Cincinnati, Ohio double majoring in Political Science and International Relations with a focus in International Development Economics and minoring in Economics. For the 2011-2012 school year, Seth is one of the co-chairs New Initiative For Middle East Peace (NIMEP) where he is co-organizing the group’s upcoming research trip to Tunisia.  Two years ago, he participated in the group’s trip to Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he authored a paper entitled, “The New Power in Abu Dhabi” describing the potential for alternative energy in the Arabian Gulf. On campus, Seth has served as the President of the Tufts Democrats where he is currently the Speakers Coordinator. Last summer, he worked as a fellow at the Embassy of Ecuador in Washington DC and he is fluent in Spanish. In the past, he has also spent a semester in Freiburg, Germany studying the European Union, a summer in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and has made two long visits to Israel/Palestine. 

Stephanos Karavas is a Junior at Tufts who is majoring in History with a concentration in the Middle East and minoring in Political Science with a concentration in Foreign Policy Analysis. Having traveled extensively throughout Greece and the Middle East, Stephanos has a deep interest in the affairs of the Mediterranean world and intends to broaden his experience by co-leading NIMEP's 2012 fact-finding mission to Tunisia. Stephanos participated in NIMEP's 2010 fact-finding mission to Kuwait and the UAE where he investigated the subject of women's political rights in Kuwait. In addition, he has moderated weekly dialogues for NIMEP in past semesters as well. Apart from his studies at Tufts and his involvement in NIMEP, Stephanos enjoys exploring the Middle East through other dimensions in addition to research, such as popular culture, cinema, music and through playing the Oud. His main area of interest in the Middle East includes the rise of Turkey, its effects on the balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean and its regional implications on a wider level. He is fluent in English, Modern Greek, Spanish and is currently learning Arabic. 

Phil Hoffman is a sophomore from Mountain Lakes, New Jersey majoring in Arabic with a minor in History. This is his second year of involvement in NIMEP, where he manages media and communications and occasionally coordinates dialogues. He is also an executive board member of the Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services (ALLIES), a group that serves to promote greater understanding between civilian undergraduates and military cadets. He recently helped to organize a civil-society conference in Tunisia for the American Islamic Congress, a non-sectarian group that promotes liberal-minded reform in the Middle East, and is proficient in French. 

Daniel Resnick is a senior from Sharon, Massachusetts, majoring in international relations with a concentration on the Middle East. This school year, he serve on the boards of the New Initiative for Middle East Peace (NIMEP) and the Tufts interfaith student group, CAFE. As a part of these groups, Dan helped coordinate a Middle East Peace Coalition of relevant student groups at Tufts, organized many interfaith events, wrote an interfaith blog read by activists worldwide, and served as CAFE’s president during his sophomore year. Dan is a member of both the international relations and political science honor societies. Off campus, Dan interned with a progressive foreign policy organization called the National Security Network, also in D.C. Lastly, Daniel spent the 2010-11 studying at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where he took numerous Middle East courses and wrote a large research paper on the composition of the British House of Lords. 

Sari Abboud is a Lebanese-American junior from London, United Kingdom double majoring in Italian Studies and International Relations with a focus in the Middle East. For the 2011-2012 school year, Sari is the co-president of the Arab Students Association (ASA) and a board member of the New Initiative For Middle East Peace (NIMEP). In the past two years, Sari has held various positions in the ASA as well as Theta Chi Fraternity. He recently worked at State Street Corporation doing paralegal work involving translating contracts from Italian to English. Sari is fluent in Arabic, Italian, and Spanish. Furthermore, he has traveled extensively throughout Europe and the Middle East to places such as Lebanon, Kuwait, Italy, Norway and Morocco.